A little change can be a good thing
by quezovercoatl
Summary: John tried to relax as he followed Rodney into the building.This mission was supposed to be easy.Go in,get the data and go back.It was a milk run.All the evidence pointed in that direction, but he couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. Mild slash


**Title** :A little change can be a good thing  
**Pairing** McKay/Sheppard  
**Spoilers** Mentions events from Inferno, the Defiant One and Conversion  
** AN **Thanks go to my cheering and poking section smuffster and shootingsilverstarlight and also thanks to shootingsilverstarlight for beta'ing.

This story was written for mklutz in the SGA Santa community on LiveJournal.

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**Present time - Infirmary **

John staggered backwards as the events of the mission played themselves over in his mind. He had heard of this of course. How your life flashed by you right before you died. But it made no sense for him to see this. Not now. He was fine, didn't have a scratch on him. Rodney was the one who was dying. You only had to look at the faces of the medical team surrounding the scientist's bed to know that. They would keep trying, doing everything they could, but ultimately they would fail and Rodney would... he...

John blinked and swallowed hard. He couldn't lose Rodney. Not now, not when he was finally ready to admit to his feelings for the other man. He felt strong hands on his shoulders and arms, steadying him, but also leading him away from the bed. He tried to fight it, but he didn't have the strength.

He wanted to stay close, but he realised the need to be out of the doctors way, give them the room they needed to work, even before Teyla said it.

He let himself be moved to a chair that she got for him, placed in a position where he wouldn't be a hindrance, but close enough for him to see Rodney and to hear the erratic beeping of the heart monitor. That sound was usually reassuring, a sign that his friends, his team mates and sometimes himself were still alive, but it was beeping way to fast for it to have that effect now.

He sat down in the chair, closed his eyes and let the memories wash over him.

**Four days ago - Conference Room **

John was slouched in his chair, listening to Elizabeth talk about their upcoming mission to check in on the Taranians and how they were adjusting to life on New Taranis, when Rodney burst into the room.

"We have to go to PX1-004."

"Nice of you to join us, Rodney."

"Am I..?" he glanced at his watch. "I guess I'm a little late, but... Hang on, I wasn't even supposed to be at this meeting so how can I be late for it?"

John smirked.

"Very mature of you, Colonel. Anyway, back to PX1-004."

"But we haven't been there yet, so how can we go back to it?" John said and got rewarded with a Rodney Death Glare sup TM /sup .

"We can't just change the off-world schedule, there are..."

"Procedures," Rodney waved his hands impatiently. "I know, but this is big.

"Procedures we have to follow." Elizabeth continued, ignoring Rodney's interruption. I have no doubt that what you have discovered is important, but so is maintaining good relations with the Taranians, especially after everything that happened."

"Yes, yes, blown up continent, blown up space ship. I was there, I know. But can't we postpone this meeting, or you know, send Lorne's team instead, because this really can't wait."

"OK Rodney, I'll bite, what is it?" John drawled. He tried to make it sound like he wasn't interested, but he really wanted to know, because anything that could keep Rodney from showing off his intelligence to Norina had to be huge.

"So good of you to ask Colonel." Rodney smirked as he set down his laptop. "I believe that PX1-004 holds the key in a successful defence against the Wraith."

"That is amazing news," Elizabeth said, after she had recovered from the shock. "What have you discovered?"

"We stumbled across the document in the Ancient database while trying to get some more information about the desalination tanks. It's too bad that when the other you went back in time and met the Ancients she didn't mention the importance of proper indexing, or alphabetising, because finding anything in that monstrosity is..."

"Rodney!"

"Right, anyway, the Ancient defence against the Wraith was built on Therian and consists of two parts. The first part is an early warning system. From what we can tell it's a bit like our long range sensors, but much more advanced."

"And the second part?"

"We haven't been able to find anything detailed. Just that when both systems are active it would somehow stop the Wraith from attacking that planet."

"But you don't know how?" Elizabeth asked.

"Not yet, we'll keep searching the database for it, but with our luck the file will be catalogued under the Ancient equivalent of the letter Y. As in, why would I bother alphabetising things when I can just dump everything right here instead."

"If you don't have all the information, wouldn't it be better to postpone this until you do?" Elizabeth continued.

"If we had to wait, it could be years before we got anywhere, and even if we don't find the second part of the system, the information we can get from those sensors alone will be worth the trip. And I'm sure we can discover even more when we go to the planet and get a chance to look at the technology"

Teyla, you've been very quiet," Elizabeth said. "What's your opinion? And is there perhaps something you can tell us about the Therians?

"Finding a defence against Wraith would certainly be a good thing," she started cautiously, "but I cannot tell you anything more since I have never heard of this world and I am sure my people have never traded with the Therians either. The gate symbols of this world look unfamilar to me."

"They would be, because the planet has been locked from the dialing system," Rodney said, fast and under his breath, obviously hoping that the last bit of his statement would be overlooked.

"Locked out? And when were you going to mention this? During this meeting, or perhaps during the mission briefing? No? Then maybe in the gate room as we are about to step through the gate?" John felt his anger rise as he watched Rodney's face flushed and he stammered "Well, eh..."

"You weren't going to mention it at all, were you?" John shouted. "If we hadn't asked Teyla about it, you wouldn't have told us, would you?"

Rodney crossed his arms. "No, because it's not relevant. You work in the military Colonel, you must be familiar with the term need to know information."

"The planet has been locked from the dialing system. How is that not something I need to know?"

"Because the Ancients did that just before leaving the Pegasus system. It's obvious they did it because they wanted to keep the technology from falling into the wrong hands."

"It isn't obvious to me." John countered. "For all we know they didn't want anyone to find out they screwed up once again."

Rodney narrowed his eyes "And we won't find out, unless we go." He glanced at Elizabeth. "We are still going, right?" he asked, his voice a little less sure than it had been before.

"If you can get me a file with ALL the information you have, I will look into it. If I think the mission is viable we will send a MALP and if the information we get back doesn't show anything dangerous, you have a go."

"Excellent." Rodney smiled as if the mission to PX1-004 was a sure thing. "I'll go get you that file now." He grabbed his laptop and walked out the door.

**Three days ago - Gate Room **

John walked down the stairs leading to the gate room where his team was already waiting for him. He'd read the report Rodney had prepared for Elizabeth and he agreed with her that the information in it looked very promising. The MALP telemetry gave no indication of anything dangerous. The air was breathable, it didn't measure any toxins or radiation.

The images that were sent back would have looked good in a travel brochure. A little stream snaking it's way through a field with colourful flowers and leading to tree covered hills. It was beautiful, but somehow it wasn't enough to shake the uneasy feeling he'd been having about this mission since Rodney had suggested it the day before.

The fact that the Ancients had locked the planet out of the dialing system still bothered him. The reasons given in the report had been plausible, but he'd been on Atlantis long enough to know that the Ancients weren't the saints that some people made them out to be. There had been too many dangerous situations, too many close calls due to their discarded and unfinished projects for John to feel safe around any of it.

It had gotten to a point where he was just as mistrustful of unfinished Ancient technology as he was of that of Wraith origin. Unfortunately that was not a reason to cancel the mission. There was nothing he could do about it now, except stay alert. He smiled at Elizabeth, who had come to see them off, as she usually did, and stepped through the gate.

**Three days ago - PX1-004**

The planet looked even more beautiful than it had on the monitor, but it didn't do anything to ease the apprehension John was feeling. It was too easy to be lulled into a false sense of security by the peaceful surroundings, the sweet smelling flowers and the cheerful chirping of what could be birds in the forest to the east. Although with their luck the birds would turn out to be something like that poison spitting dinosaur they had on Jurassic Park. He made a mental note to avoid the wooded areas if they could. He watched the rest of his team. Ronon and Teyla had picked up on his mood and he could tell they were even more alert then usual. They were surveying the area and keeping an eye on Rodney, who as usual was too absorbed in the readings on his scanner to notice anything else.

The walk to the village should have taken two hours, but it took them half an hour longer since they had to make several stops on the way and wait for Rodney to finish sneezing and then listen to him curse at the existence of flowers, his allergies and rant about the incompetence of doctors who had yet to invent effective antihistamines.

When they reached the settlement John didn't need to check his Life Signs Detector to know that it had been uninhabited for a very long time. Several of the buildings had collapsed and were overgrown with weeds. The few houses that were still standing looked like they could fall down any minute now, doors and windows were missing and the interior had been trashed, probably by wild animals.

"All right people," Rodney said as he veered off to the left. "The sensor should be right…" he sighed deeply. "Under this pile of rubble. It's going to take days to dig it up. I should have known something like this was going to happen. Things are never this easy." He went back to staring at his scanner.

"I guess this means we should go back to Atlantis," John remarked, happy to have found a reason to abort the mission.

"Back?" Rodney looked up, and incredulous look on his face. "Why?"

"Yeah, Sheppard. Why?" Ronon questioned.

John sent him a dark look before answering.

"We came here to find the sensors, which are somewhere in these ruins. You said it yourself; it will take days to dig this out. We don't have the supplies to stay here for days, nor the equipment to deal with this. The best thing we can do is go back to Atlantis, send the Marines to clear the rubble and once everything has been uncovered you can come back here to get the information you need."

That would give him a few days to convince Elizabeth to scrub the return mission or if that failed to persuade her to send Zelenka instead.

"You've got to be kidding me, right? You want the Marines to... I mean, I know it looks like you can just bulldoze through here, but there is some delicate equipment down there. Who knows how many pieces it will be in once they are through with it?"

John rolled his eyes. "We'll instruct them to be careful and if you're that worried we can send some of the archaeologists along to supervise."

Rodney harrumphed. "Like they would know what to..." A beep diverted his attention back to his scanner. "Huh." and he walked off, followed by Ronon and Teyla.

John quickly caught up with them and realised that his chance to go back to Atlantis early had just gone up in smoke. Rodney had been right: things were never this easy.

oOo 

It only took Rodney less than five minutes to locate the second energy signature. It was located inside of a cavern in a hill, accessible by an elaborate tunnel system. John tried to come up with a good reason for not going in, since he knew that 'Because I don't want you to' wasn't one he could use. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything he could say to change Rodney's mind. And he couldn't pull rank and haul them back to the gate solely based on a gut feeling. The tunnels were narrow but Ancient made and structurally sound, the area was geographically stable and a map of the tunnels 'downloaded' itself onto Rodney's scanner, so John couldn't even claim that he was worried about getting lost in the hill as a legitimate reason. He did leave Ronon and Teyla guarding the entrance to the tunnels though, just in case.

When they'd rounded the first corner, Rodney stopped so suddenly that John nearly crashed into him.

"Something wrong?" he asked, looking around to spot anything out of the ordinary.

"I was about to ask you the same thing. Is something bothering you? Because if there is, you can always talk to eh... Well, I'm sure Teyla will be more then happy to listen to you and then afterwards she can beat some sense into you with her sticks."

"McKay, there is nothing bothering me."

"Then why are you acting like," Rodney waved his hands around in a way that was probably supposed to portray his behaviour "this."

"Like what?"

"Overly cautious. First you object to the mission before it even starts, then when we get here you try to come up with reasons to leave and now you leave Teyla and Ronon to guard the hill entrance? It's not that I'm against safety precautions, especially when it involves my own, but we're the only ones on this planet. Nobody has been here for thousands of years." Rodney showed him the Life Signs Detector, which showed only their four dots. "See? There is nobody else but us here."

"That's what you thought on the planet with the crashed Wraith cruiser too, and look how that turned out." John regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth, but it was too late now. Rodney flinched and stepped away from him.

"That was a totally different situation. That Wraith was on his on ship and had a steady food supply. I very much doubt that there is one hiding here amongst all this Ancient technology."

"But you can't be sure of that, can you?" John pushed.

"This is Pegasus, you should know by now that nothing is certain here!"

"I do, that's why I think it can't hurt to..."

"Be careful, I get it. You made your point, now lets move on. The sooner I get this signal checked out, the sooner we can get back to the relative safety of Atlantis."

John tried to relax as he followed Rodney into the building. This mission was supposed to be easy. Go in, get the data and go back. No Wraith, no (un)-friendly natives. It was a milk run. All the evidence pointed in that direction, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

As they approached the entrance of the cavern at the end of the tunnel he quickly and silently scanned it for anything out of the ordinary. It seemed safe enough. It was empty and appeared to be structurally sound, no cracks in the ceiling, walls or... that was weird.

"McKay. Stop."

Rodney turned to face him and looked up from his scanner. "What, Colonel?" The irritation at being disturbed showing clearly on his face.

"Check out at the floor."

Rodney did and ...

"What about it? I don't see anything wrong with it."

"You don't find it strange that there is jewelry scattered all over the place, not to mention belt buckles and I'm pretty sure that that," he pointed to a piled of rotted cloth in the middle of the room, "used to be clothes."

"So? Maybe these people used this place as dressing room before going for a swim in the river."

"And what? They didn't come back for their clothes because they all drowned?"

"Or they all went home naked, how would I know?"

"I'm just saying..."

"I know. I get that you want to be careful, I really do, but clothes and accessories are not dangerous. Do you think they will jump up from the floor and attack me?"

No, of course not, it's just."

"It's just what Sheppard? You can deny it all you want, but something is off about you and I want to know what it is, because you're starting to freak me out."

John wished he had an answer to give to Rodney, one that didn't make him look really superstitious or paranoid, but he couldn't. He ran his fingers trough his hair and wondered if he could bluff his way out of this.

"You know what, Colonel? I don't have time to stand around while you figure out what you're going to say. If you need me, I'll be in there, taking readings." Rodney turned around and stepped into the cavern.

oOo

Normally John didn't mind being right. Usually it was fun saying 'I told you so.' He had a feeling this wasn't going to be one of those times though. The moment Rodney had stepped into the cavern, there had been a bright flash of light that blinded him. He hoped his vision would return to normal soon, because all he could see now were spots. He he'd heard a crash of something falling on the ground and then nothing. But it wasn't totally silent. He could still hear someone, something moving or scratching along the floor. He was hoping it Rodney, but he wasn't sure, because he had called the man's name several times and hadn't gotten an answer yet.

"John, is everything alright?" Teyla's worried voice came in clear his radio. He tapped it quickly: at least that was something he didn't need vision for.

"Something happened," he replied cryptically.

"Do you require assistance?"

"No, not yet, I would like you to stay put for a while." As tempting as Teyla's offer was, he felt better knowing the rest of his team were safe outside instead of walking into an unknown situation. At least his vision was slowly returning. When it did, he could asses the situation and call in Ronon and Teyla for backup, should it be necessary. He could still hear someone moving in the cavern and he assumed it was Rodney, since the 'room' had been empty before. John couldn't be sure though since he had yet to receive a reply from the other man.

It was weird: Rodney was never quiet for this long, not even when he was sleeping. He called his name again, getting frustrated when once more, he didn't get an answer. Fortunately, his vision had mostly cleared of spots and now he could finally find out what, if anything had happened to Rodney.

John looked into the cavern. On the floor, three feet from the entrance was Rodney's laptop, it was laying on top of his BDU's and struggling to get out of the clothes was a... a...

He closed his eyes and counted slowly to ten, because there was no way he could have seen what he just saw. It had to be some sort hallucination, caused by the light. It had to be. He would open his eyes and Rodney would be there and not... He took a deep breath, opened his eyes and stared into the cavern.

He was still seeing the same thing. Rodney's laptop, his BDU's and if he wasn't mistaken, and he didn't think he was, a fruit bat. A very confused looking fruit bat though, so maybe it was some sort of displacement device. You stepped in, it transported you to someplace else and an animal got put in your place. Even as he was thinking it, he knew it didn't make sense, but a small part of him hoped it had happened that way because that meant that Rodney was somewhere on the planet, probably bitching about being naked and it was better then the only other alternative he could come up with.

"Rodney?" he asked once more.

The bat, which had been poking at the laptop, looked up, squeaked and started to move towards him.

"Oh crap." Why couldn't he have been wrong about this? He sighed. Well, at least he didn't have to come up with a plan to get the bat Rodney (and he was certain now that it was Rodney) out of the cave. Maybe the process would revert itself when he got into the tunnel. He crossed his fingers, even though he knew that the chances of that happening were the same as the Wraith deciding they needed a change of life style and becoming vegetarians.

When Rodney entered the tunnel, John closed his eyes briefly anyway, hoping to see (or not see in this case) a bright flash, but nothing like that happened. He sat down and waited for Rodney to reach him.

"Hey buddy, here's another fine mess you've gotten yourself into"

It wasn't really original, but it seemed appropriate for the situation and Rodney appeared to agree with him, because he rolled his eyes. He hadn't known that bats could do that, and maybe they couldn't and this was just a Rodney thing. He'd have to ask one of the biologist about it when they got back to Atlantis.

John looked at Rodney. There was no way he could walk back to the gate like this, and he didn't want him to fly either. Inside the hill the tunnels were probably too narrow and chances were that there were vicious, bat eating predators outside. (Just because they hadn't seen any yet, didn't mean the weren't there.)

"Looks like I'm going to have to carry to you back to the gate."

Rodney squawked indignantly and took a few steps away from him.

"I know, I feel the same way, but it's too far to walk and you can't fly in here either."

Rodney spread his wings, John estimated his wing span to be about five feet, and looked unhappy when he saw how little leeway he had and folded them again.

Now that they had agreed on their mode of transportation back, the next problem addressed itself. How did you carry a bat? Upside down was probably best, but it also seemed wrong somehow. Rodney had already climbed onto his lap and he decided it was probably best to let Ronon and Teyla know they were on their way out, since he didn't know if he'd still be able to use his radio and carry Rodney at the same time.

He tapped his radio. "Ronon, Teyla, we're on our way out."

"You OK?" Ronon asked.

"Yeah, we're..." he stopped himself before saying fine, because obviously they weren't. "We'll be out in a few minutes, I'll explain then."

oOo

Ronon and Teyla looked happy to see him when he stepped out of the tunnel about five minutes later. Their expressions changed to worried when they didn't see Rodney.

"Where is Doctor McKay?" Teyla asked. "And what is that strange animal you are carrying?"

"It's Rodney." John said. He decided that being direct was the best approach to this situation. "Something in the cavern changed him into a fruit bat."

"So, is he Batman now?" Ronon wanted to know.

"Not really," he said. "Batman doesn't change into a bat, he just wears a bat like outfit. We'll have to show you the movies once we get Rodney back to normal." John finished and Rodney meeped in agreement, at least that's how he interpreted it. "And speaking of which, we'd better head back to the gate. The sooner we get back home, the sooner things can get back to normal."

"Want me to carry him for a while?" Ronon offered.

"Naw, I'm good. He's actually quite light. His laptop probably weighs more then he does right now." Which was true, but John realised that even if Rodney had weighed a ton right now, he still wouldn't have handed him over.

oOo

They were halfway to the gate when Rodney started stirring. Up until that point, he had been relaxed, his feet were holding on to John's right upper arm, his body resting on John's right forearm and his head was nestled in the crook of John's left elbow, but not anymore. Something had spooked him and he was trying to get away.

It was Teyla who spotted the large snake slithering towards them, Ronon who shot it and John who watched helplessly as Rodney flew away when he couldn't hold on to him any longer.

Chasing after the frightened animal they called out to him, telling him to return, that things were safe now, but Rodney gave no indication that he heard them. Either he was still too scared to be reasoned with or was to far out to hear them.

John wondered how they would find Rodney if he got away from them, when he heard the familiar sound of Ronon's blaster powering up and saw a red light envelop Rodney, who glided down and skidded to a halt in a bed of flowers approximately 200 yards ahead of them.

After what felt like hours, but was really only 30 seconds, John reached Rodney. He quickly looked him over and it appeared that the bones in his wings weren't broken, he folded them in and rolled Rodney on his back. John placed his hand on Rodney's chest and was relieved to feel a fast, but steady heartbeat and hot puffs of breath on his skin. When he looked up Ronon was standing next to him.

"He OK?"

"For now." John said, keeping his voice even. He wasn't sure if he should yell at Ronon for shooting Rodney or thank him for making sure he hadn't gotten away from them.

"I want to run ahead to the gate, dial Atlantis and tell them to have Beckett and a team of biologists standing by. We should be there in about 45 minutes."

"I could take him with me, he'd be there faster." Ronon offered.

"He's stable, so speed isn't the most important thing right now, we can afford to go a little slower. It will keep him as comfortable as possible and give the medical teams on Atlantis some time to prepare."

Ronon nodded and started running towards the gate.

John was about to pick up Rodney again when he felt Teyla's hand on his shoulder.

"John, you have been injured." Teyla said, sounding calm and serene as always, but John knew she was worried.

"It's nothing." John said, never taking his eyes of Rodney.

"Nevertheless I would feel much better if you would allow me to take a look." Teyla replied, and he could hear a little irritation seeping into her voice.

"It's just a scratch." John said, and it was. It wasn't like it hurt, much, and he didn't think it was bleeding much anymore either, so he was sure it could wait until they got Rodney back to Atlantis, before putting a band aid on it.

"Of course it is." Teyla smirked, and he could tell she was just humouring him now. "However if you plan on carrying Doctor McKay back to the gate in your current condition, you will get your blood on him and you know he would not appreciate that."

No, John thought, Rodney would not like that at all. He smiled as he imagined how Rodney would bitch about being bled on. How it was gross, unsanitary and a health risk before switching the focus of his rant to where the blood had originated from. He would tell John that he was an idiot for not taking better care of himself, and didn't he know dangerous animal inflicted wounds were and how easily infection could set in if you didn't get treated right away.

John hissed as he took off his jacket and stuffed it in his backpack, then held out his arm to Teyla so she could disinfect and bandage the wound, which she did expertly and fast. He then carefully picked Rodney, who was still unconscious and the three of them made their way to the gate.

**Two days ago - Conference Room **

Elizabeth smiled as John walked into the conference room with Carson at his side.

"It's good to see you Colonel," she said, "I hope you are doing well."

"Yep, just peachy." he replied, knowing Elizabeth already knew how he was doing, because he had been sitting in Carson's office when he had sent her his report just before releasing him from the infirmary.

He'd been stuck there since stepping through the gate the day before. John had wanted to stay close to Rodney, but when Teyla mentioned who had caused the wound on his arm he had been swept away for blood and DNA testing. He knew that it was necessary and understood why they were being so cautious. They didn't want a repeat of the Elia situation and neither did he.

He had written his report about the mission and now there was nothing left for him to do but sit and wait. He just wished he had been allowed to visit Rodney while waiting for the test results to come back. He had gotten updates from Teyla and Ronon, Rodney was still unconscious, but alive and doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances. Hearing about it wasn't the same as seeing it for himself though. Passing on a message wasn't the same as telling Rodney in person that everything would work out, like always.

When Carson let him leave after informing him that he wound on his arm wasn't infected and his DNA wasn't mutating he'd only had enough time for a quick shower and a cup of coffee, before he had to be at the mission briefing.

John sat down in the seat that had been saved for him.

Elizabeth glanced around the room.

"Now that we're all here, I guess we can get started."

We're not all here, John wanted to say, but he didn't. It wouldn't serve any purpose and would only delay the start of the meeting and that was something he didn't want, because the sooner this thing got started, the sooner it would be finished. They could then start working on a way to reverse the process and get Rodney back to normal.

The meeting started by going over the mission report he had written. Things were pretty straight forward and after answering a few questions his part of the briefing was done and he sat back and listened as Doctor Dekker told the room that the specimen (John bit on his lower lip to stay quiet when he heard that. This was Rodney he was talking about, not a some stupid animal or a lab experiment) he examined was a healthy fruit bat, most likely of the type pteropus livingstonii, its wingspan was four feet eleven inches and it weighed 1.4 pounds and he estimated its age to be about 15 years old and that the Livingstone fruit bat had a life expectancy of around 30 years. It was also still unconscious. However that wasn't totally unexpected if you considered the strength of weapon it had been stunned with. He expected the bat to wake up sometime today, then they could feed it and find a proper place to house it.

"Thank you Doctor Dekker," Elizabeth said, before turning to Carson.

"How certain are we that this is Doctor McKay?"

"Besides the fact that he listens to his name and even as a bat he is incapable of flying in a straight line?" John remarked.

"Yes."

"We did a DNA check, and although it's not recognisable as Rodney's anymore, it does have the artificial ATA gene, making it highly unlikely that it is not Rodney." Carson explained.

"If he still has the ATA gene, is it possible for him to still activate Ancient technology?' Doctor Zelenka asked.

"I doubt it. As you are aware Ancient tech isn't just about the ATA gene there is also a mental component required and as a fruit bat Rodney's mental capacity isn't anywhere near what it was as a human."

"I guess that means we don't have to worry about him randomly activating things?" Elizabeth concluded.

"Most likely not, but I would keep him out of his lab just to be on the safe side."

"Noted."

John watched as Radek organised his papers, knowing that he would be the next one Elizabeth would call on.

"Doctor Zelenka, has there been any progress?"

"Yes and no. The teams we sent to PX1-004 last night report that the excavation is going well and they expect to be done in the next hour. We've also recovered Doctor McKay's laptop and scanner and we're hopeful the information recorded on it, will help us greatly."

"How did they get a hold of Doctor McKay's equipment," Elizabeth wanted to know. "I thought it had been left in the cavern."

"I have not asked," Zelenka replied, "but since it wasn't far from the cavern entrance..." he was looking at John now.

"About three feet." John confirmed.

"...I guess they probably used a shovel, or a large stick to pull the items out of the cavern."

John nodded. It made sense to him to do it that way.

"What we don't know yet is the purpose of the transformation cavern," Radek continued, "or how it is related to the long range sensors. We think that once we know how the two systems are connected work on the reversal process. It's going to be another day at least before we find out more though." Radek finished.

"Does anybody have anything they want to add?" Elizabeth said as she looked around the room. "Then I suggest we..." she paused as the listened to her radio.

John immediately sat up straight and tensed as he saw the frown on Elizabeth's face. This was about Rodney he just knew it. He could think of no other reason, bar a full scale Wraith invasion, for anyone to interrupt this meeting.

"Please stay calm, keep doing what you're doing. We will be there shortly." Elizabeth finished the conversation with a quick tap to her radio. "Doctors Zelenka, Beckett, Dekker and Colonel Sheppard can you please stay. Everybody else, this concludes this briefing. I suggest we meet here again tomorrow at the same time. If something comes up before then, you'll be contacted."

"Elizabeth, what's wrong with Rodney?" John asked the moment the room had cleared.

"If you give me a moment, I will tell you. Doctor Quin just contacted me. She let me know that Rodney woke up 10 minutes ago."

Doctor Dekker smirked triumphantly, like he was personally responsible for the change in Rodney's status.

"And the bad news?" John pushed.

"Why do you think it's bad?"

"If it were all good, you would have told everybody when they were still here. Also this mission has been one bad thing after another. If I were a superstitious man I'd say it was cursed from the moment Rodney suggested it."

"But you're not?"

"No, and you still haven't told me what happened."

"When Rodney woke up he was hungry. There was a fruit salad on the table and he made his way over to it."

"So?" John asked, not seeing the problem.

"It was a citrus salad."

"Crap! Is Rodney OK? Did he eat any of it? John said and he was getting more anxious by the minute. Why didn't Elizabeth just tell them what happened instead of beating about the bush like this.

"Calm down John, Rodney is fine. Doctor Quin pushed the bowl out of the way before he could get to it."

"Then what?" John pushed, still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"The bowl fell on the ground. The sound startled Rodney. He managed to open the balcony door and flew outside," Elizabeth finished.

"I guess that answers the question about if he can still use Ancient Technology." Carson muttered at the same time John said: "Then why are we still here? He could be anywhere by now!"

"He's right outside the bio-lab. Doctor Quin said she tried to lure him back inside, but she was unsuccessful, which is when she contacted me."

"We should still be there, not here." John said and started walking to the door.

"Even if he flies away, it's still not a problem", Doctor Dekker said as John was standing in the doorway, "because we tagged him."

"Tagged him? He isn't some animal to be released in the wild you know!" John snapped. He walked away before he could say or do anything he might regret later.

oOo

When he got to the bio-lab, John immediately walked to the balcony and just as Elizabeth had said, Rodney was there. Watching him fly was weird. It looked clumsy and he seemed to lose altitude, but then he would find an updraft and soar, maybe not like an eagle, but it was still impressive to look at.

John watched as Rodney made several passes at the balcony but then veered off again and wondered why he was doing that.

"He's looking for a good place to crash."

John turned to Doctor Dekker who was standing next to him. "Huh?"

"You asked about his flight pattern."

"Crash? Don't you mean land? I mean, I know Rodney isn't known for his flying ability, but he can land." John said, smiling as he remembered how flushed Rodney had gotten the first time he had to land the Jumper. He'd teased him about it for weeks, even though it had been a good landing for someone who wasn't a pilot.

"Maybe he could as a human, but fruit bats don't land. If they see a tree or bush they like, they crash into it to come to a stop or they try to latch on to a branch as the pass by." Dekker stated and he sounded like he was reciting it from somewhere, and he probably was.

"There are no trees or bushes here." John briefly considered some of the 10,000 year old dead plants that they sometimes found when exploring a new section of the city, but he doubted that Rodney wanted to land in those. "So how do we get him to land?" He didn't want to say crash, because that just sounded wrong somehow.

"How good of you to ask," Dekker smiled smugly. "When Doctor Weir informed us of Doctor McKay's current status I realised that landing was going to be a problem. Which is why I ordered some of my staff to the gym to obtain one of the goals used for handball and soccer, put some flowers and fruit in it, non-citrus of course, and have it brought here."

Two people came in and put the goal down just as Dekker finished talking.

"Will that thing hold?" John asked, eyeing the fragile looking net.

"It should, but it's probably best to stand back a bit, just in case." Dekker told him, before finding a safe place inside the lab.

John however stayed put and watched in awe and some shock as Rodney flew kamikaze style at the goal, grabbing the net with his feet, then flipping upside down and started eating the flower closest to him.

"See," Dekker said as he emerged from the lab. "I told you it would hold."

Rodney made a happy noise, at least John thought it was, and moved a bit to get at a piece of fruit.

"Now what do we do?"

"We put the goal net inside the lab of course." Dekker said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And have him fly out the next time someone or something startles him? I don't think so."

"Then what do you suggest, Colonel?"

"My room doesn't have a balcony, how about I take him home with me?" John said in a tone of voice that should make it clear that he wasn't really asking a question. Doctor Dekker must have picked up on it, because he didn't object and neither did anybody else.

**Yesterday - Conference Room **

John yawned as he walked in, dragging the soccer goal behind him. (The engineers put wheels under it so it was easier to move) Rodney was hanging from the aluminium crossbar. He was sleeping now. He didn't know exactly what he had expected when he had taken Rodney 'home' with him, but he hadn't thought he be up most of the night.

If it had just been the noise he made while eating the flowers and fruit, it wouldn't have been a problem. After all, that was the reason earplugs were invented. He could have slept through that, but just like human!Rodney, bat!Rodney found it hard to sit still and flew tight circles in his room.

After watching for a few minutes, he knew Rodney wouldn't crash into the walls or his bed, but he still found it impossible to sleep with Rodney whizzing about only a few feet above him.

He found a place to put the goal, sat down and waited for the meeting to start.

"Doctor Zelenka, has there been any progress?" Elizabeth asked after everybody had taken their seat.

"Yes," he said, while pushing his glasses up his nose. "We are now fairly certain we know how the Ancients intended for the system to work. It's quite ingenious actually. The long range sensor system would keep track of any Wraith ships in the area. If one or more of them were on a course for Therian, the system would signal the people, who would then go to the hill where they would be transformed into animals. This meant that when the Wraith were in scanning range of the planet, they wouldn't find any human life signs and move on. Once the sensors determined the Wraith to be at a safe distance it would signal the people to go back to the cavern where they would be changed back to human."

"So, if we take McKay back to the cavern he'll change back to normal?" Ronon asked.

"Like I said, it was intended to work that way," Zelenka answered.

"But it's not going to work, is it?" John concluded.

"I'm afraid not," Radek agreed.

"The scientists that started this project did so near the end of the war with the Wraith. There was already talk of leaving the Pegasus Galaxy and I think that is what lead them to test the system before it was completely finished."

"Well, that was nice of them," John said sarcastically.

"I'm sure they meant well." Elizabeth said and sometimes, John couldn't understand that after everything that happened to them, she could still defend the Ancients.

"Maybe, but it didn't do the Therians any good, did it?" John looked at Zelenka and waited for his answer.

"No, like I said, the first part of the transformation works fine, but the reversal process was a complete failure. The scientists responsible for the project tried for several weeks to fix the problem, but ultimately they concluded that once a person was changed into an animal they would stay that way until they died."

"But you can fix this, right?" John insisted.

"I don't know," Radek said, taking off his glasses, polishing them before putting them back on.

I do. You can do it. I have faith in you." John said, but he was looking at Rodney who made a snuffling sound, tucked his snout under his other wing and continued to sleep.

**Earlier today **

After another night with little sleep John dragged himself, and Rodney, to the mess hall for breakfast. He would have breakfast now and he would hang pieces of fruit in the net, so Rodney could eat when he woke up, which he did a few times a day. John yawned again and gently poked Rodney. "This is all your fault you know" he said, but either Rodney hadn't heard, or he didn't care, because he kept on sleeping. At least he didn't snore as a bat.

After the meeting the previous day, Elizabeth had asked him if it wouldn't be better for both of them if Rodney stayed in the bio-lab. He would have trained specialist there to take care of him and John would be able to sleep at night. He told her 'no'. Then he had grabbed the goal (and Rodney) and walked out. She hadn't called him back to ask for a more detailed answer and he had been glad of that, because he wasn't sure if he could have explained it.

Rodney was Team, Family, his best friend. There was no way he'd dump Rodney in a place where they would stare at him like he was something that could win them the Nobel Prize once the Atlantis expedition was declassified, just so he could get a few hours of sleep. He tiredly rubbed his eyes. He could probably delegate some of his duties for today to Major Lorne and sneak in a nap in the afternoon.

He was still thinking about the possibility of catching up on some sleep when he saw Rodney fly past him and disappear around the corner about three seconds later. That was also approximately the time his brain and body needed to coordinate themselves enough to allow John to run after Rodney. He sped up when a few seconds after that when he heard a high pitched scream and a loud crash.

When he rounded the corner he saw Rodney lying on the floor, covered by a plant and an hysterical Katie Brown who was screaming. "O my God, a monster, someone kill it.' It made him really glad that none of the botanists had guns with them.

The other botanists had put down their plants and surrounded Katie in an attempt to calm her down.

John started to relax a little, Doctor Brown started to calm down. Rodney appeared to be fine too. John waited for a while to see if Rodney able to get back on his feet by himself, but when nothing happened, John knelt to pick him up. It was then that he heard that Rodney's breathing was off and he smelt the scent coming from the plant.

Citrus.

John pulled the epipen from a pocket in his BDU's, took the cap off and was wondering what the best injection site would be when someone took the pen from his hand.

"You can't use an epipen on a bat." Parrish said.

"It's not a bat, it's Rodney!" John shouted. "And what do you mean, I can't use it. He's going into anaphylactic shock. He needs epinephrine."

"Maybe, but the amount of epi in that pen is meant for an adult human, it would be way too much for a bat." Parrish countered and it probably said a lot about their lives in the Pegasus Galaxy that the botanist hadn't even blinked at the news that their Chief of Science had been turned into a bat.

Doctor Parrish was right, John realised, Rodney would probably be dead now if he'd given him that much epinephrine. He'd have to thank the man for saving Rodney's life later, but not now. Rodney still needed help and fast too.

'Carson. He'll know what to do.' John thought. He got Rodney off the floor, held him close to his body and started running to the infirmary. As long as he could feel Rodney's heartbeat against his chest and the irregular puffs of air on his neck, there was still hope. That was what he told himself and what he whispered to Rodney as he ran faster than he'd ever done before in his life.

"You have to hang on buddy, it's just a little further, you can do it, you'll be in the infirmary soon and then Carson will make it all better, all you have to do is keep breathing till we get there."

As Rodney's breathing slowed and John running speed went up, the words he whispered to Rodney changed too.

"Please don't die Rodney, you can't leave me, I need you, I love you." John nearly tripped when his brain caught up with what he'd been whispering, but he quickly regained his balance and speed and moved on. Now wasn't the time for life altering epiphanies. He wasn't really sure if there was an appropriate time for such a thing, but he definitely knew that now wasn't it.

One minute later he reached the infirmary.

**Present time (again) - the infirmary**

John still had his eyes closed when the sound of the flatline started. Rodney was dying and it was all his fault. He started thinking of all the things he had done wrong and the things he should have done instead. If he had paid better attention to Rodney instead of daydreaming, he could have prevented him from flying away and none of it would have happened. He also nearly killed Rodney by wanting to use the epi pen on him and running him to the infirmary instead of the bio-lab. Maybe Rodney would still be alive if he had.

The sound of the flatline had stopped now. It wasn't be replaced by the tones of a heartbeat, but by the silence of a machine that had been switched off and a voice calling a time of death.

John swallowed hard and somehow managed to get up from his seat. He made his way over to Rodney's bed, and was dimly aware that the medical staff had cleared the area and that Ronon and Teyla were walking behind him.

When he reached the bed he held on to the railing. He stared at Rodney and morbidly wondered if he was still warm to the touch. He also knew that if he touched Rodney now he would lose it completely and that was something he didn't want. Not here, not in public.

He bit his lip hard. He was going to take one last look at Rodney, then go back to his room and fall apart in private.

The bright flash surprised John the second time just as much as the first. He was still blinking when he wass pushed away from the bed again. He heard the sound of the flatline as the monitor got switched on again. Heard the doctors yell orders for epinephrine, a defibrillator.

John was still seeing spots when the monotonous beep changed and was now indicating a steady heartbeat. It was the best sound he'd ever heard.

It was followed 30 minutes later by the best thing he's ever seen as Rodney opened his eyes.

"John?" Rodney said weakly.

"Shh." John said, putting a hand on Rodney's shoulder. "Don't talk now. You should sleep, we'll talk tomorrow."

Rodney closed his eyes and was asleep instantly.

It was probably a good thing, John thought. This wasn't the time to have the talk he thought Rodney wanted to have. He had some time now to figure out exactly how he felt and what he was going to say to Rodney. He had the rest of the day and all night to figure it out. He smiled and gently squeezed Rodney's shoulder before walking out of the infirmary. He could do this.

**One day later - The infirmary. **

The Daedalus showed up ahead of schedule, bringing new personnel and lots of equipment. It took John the entire morning to get everything and everyone organised. When he finally had time to go to the infirmary to visit Rodney, he found Katie Brown sitting with him. She was happily chatting to him as Rodney ate a bowl of blue Jell-O.

John turned around and walked out, happy nobody saw him enter. He was glad he hadn't told Rodney how he felt about him yet. It was stupid to even consider it. Rodney was straight. He practically worshipped the ground Samantha Carter walked on and he had dated Katie Brown. He knew they had broken up a few weeks ago, but from what he had seen just there, it was obvious that they were getting back together again.

John knew that those two things alone weren't proof that Rodney didn't like men, but the look of horror of his face when he realised he had kissed Carson was. Telling him wouldn't get him anything, but it could ruin one of the best friendships he had in a long time, and wasn't sure he was willing to risk that.

He just hoped Rodney hadn't heard the things he said when he had carried him to the infirmary.

**Seven days later - John's quarters  
**

John was sitting on his bed and knew he was being a coward by avoiding Rodney. He told himself that it was because he wanted to have a good response should Rodney call him on the things he had said. He also knew that wasn't true, because Rodney didn't remember a thing about the time he spent as a bat. John had known that before he read it in the reports written about the incident, because he had heard a few biologist talk about it in the mess hall. They had been hoping for all kinds of new insights into the life of bats and had been disappointed to learn that no new information would be coming their way.

Katie had been there too, but only long enough to tell her friends she wouldn't be staying because she was having lunch with Rodney in his lab. And if he was being honest, even if it was just to himself, that was a big part of the problem. Rodney and Katie were getting back together again. It was obvious. He should be happy for Rodney and honeslty, a small part of him was. The rest of him kept coming up with new ideas to get her off Atlantis for good, even though he knew that wasn't the answer to the problem either.

Maybe taking a shower would help clear his mind a bit.

He was halfway to his bathroom when Rodney burst into his room like a miniature tornado. John knew this wasn't an emergency situation, there were no alarms and nobody had tried to contact him on his radio, so he decided to play it cool.

"He buddy, is there a problem?" he smirked.

"Yes there is!" Rodney poked him in his chest. "You have been avoiding me all week and I want to know why!"

"No I haven't." John started with denial first, while he frantically tried to think of a good, if fictional, reason of why he was avoiding Rodney.

"Yes you have. You didn't visit me in the infirmary, we never have lunch together anymore or any other meal for that matter, you cancelled our game of chess. I can go on for a while longer, but it's probably easier if you just agree with me and tell me what the problem is."

"I almost got you killed." John blurted out, almost kicking himself moments after for his lack of control.

"No you didn't"

"If Doctor Parrish hadn't stopped me from using the epi-pen, you've have died before we got to the infirmary."

Rodney shrugged. "You don't know that. You're not a medical doctor and neither is Parrish. It's also not a good reason to avoid me. Kavanagh gets me nearly killed on a bi-weekly basis and he doesn't... OK, maybe that's a bad example and it doesn't matter anyway, because I don't think that is the real the reason."

"Then what do you think it is?" John drawled.

"I think it's about what you said to me when you carried me to the infirmary."

"I thought you couldn't remember anything about being a bat."

"Like I have time to answer all the stupid questions the biologists were going to ask me, and it wouldn't have done them any good even if I had, so I figured that a partial amnesia was the best solution."

"And Carson went along with that?"

"He doesn't know about it and you're changing the subject again."

"I was kinda hoping you wouldn't notice."

"Genius here, I notice everything." Rodney said smugly. "You meant what you said, right?"

John wanted to deny it, but he found he couldn't. Not with Rodney standing right in front of him, but he couldn't say it either, so he just nodded and looked away.

"Oh, thank God," he heard Rodney say.

And then Rodney's hands were on his shoulders, Rodney's lips were pressed against his and they were kissing. It was good, it was great, it was everything John never knew he wanted, but it couldn't be what Rodney wanted, could it? Not really.

"Sorry," John said as he gently pushed Rodney away. "I shouldn't have."

"Shouldn't have what? Shouldn't have kissed me back? Shouldn't have told me you loved me? What?"

"Either. Both. I don't know, it's just complicated."

"I don't see what's complicated about it. I mean we're two consenting adults and... Oh my God! I was a bat when you told me you loved me. You have some weird animal fetish and that's why you don't want to kiss me now?" Rodney blurted out.

"No! That's not it at all!"

"Not that I would think any less of you did, it's just that..." Rodney continued. "It's not? That's good, because, you know things would be a bit weird then. But if that's not the reason why did you push me away? I though you wanted this."

"I do, but you don't."

"How did you reach that conclusion? I would think it's pretty obvious I want this, considering that I came to your quarters and kissed you. Nobody forced me to do that."

"No, I suppose not, but what about Katie?"

"What about her?" Rodney asked, confusion clearly showing in his face.

"Aren't you two getting back together again?" John asked, not really wanting to know, but having to ask anyway.

"Of course not!" Rodney exclaimed. "Would I be kissing you if we were?

"Probably not, but..."

"And besides, what made you think that in the first place?"

"...but I saw the two of you in the infirmary and she bringing you lunch in your lab and I don't know, she's just around you a lot."

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Rodney said, glaring at him. "You should have just asked me what was going on instead of moping around for the last week. Katie is around me all the time because she feels bad about throwing me on the floor and almost killing me with that plant from the mainland and she's been trying to make it up to me ever since. I keep telling her that it's not her fault and that she should stop it, but I don't think I'm getting through to her."

"Oh," John replied, not really sure what to say to that.

"Yeah... Well... Now that I've cleared that up, can we forget about Katie and get back to kissing?" Rodney asked impatiently.

And pulling Rodney close, John was more then willing to oblige.

The End


End file.
